# Linux Compatible Modem Recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 21, 2003, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-compatible-modem-recommendations/183395 "2003-06-21T09:51:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-compatible-modem-recommendations/183395/1 "2003-06-21T09:51:50Z")
Brand names and model numbers please for 56K modems. I’m going to _have_ to make the leap to Linux here shortly and I need a modem that works with it, since my current one doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-compatible-modem-recommendations/183395/2 "2003-06-21T11:47:56Z")
- - - My advice: 1. Start by getting model names of external serial-port modems ONLY. You can usually find these in newspaper ads or in the specs online. 2. Visit each modem’s mfg support age, and verify that there are NO drivers to download at all. An .ini file is fine, but you don’t even need that. Apparently some “hardware-based” serial-port modems now require “something that is kind of but not quite a driver”, and you don’t want one of those modems. They adverise “Linux compatibility” because they include “Linux drivers that might kinda sort of work with some brands of LInux”. A _true_ 100% hardware modem will have no drivers at all to install or download. ~ ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-compatible-modem-recommendations/183395/3 "2003-06-21T16:25:45Z")
I have a US Robotics 56K modem which worked very well with Debian Linux about 2-3 years ago…I’ve been with cable since. They even had instructions included in the box about how to install it and get it working, although it was designed more for RedHat users. I think I paid about 100$ at the time, though I imagine it might be less now. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-compatible-modem-recommendations/183395/4 "2003-06-21T16:28:14Z")
Oh, and it _wasn’t_ a WinModem, which is the kind-of-but-not-quite-a-driver type of modem. Avoid those, because they are designed to have the OS do part of the driving, and Linux doesn’t like that, although there are some models that have been around long enough to have been made compatible. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-compatible-modem-recommendations/183395/5 "2003-06-22T06:09:07Z")
Of course, I _could_ always check the site of the [distribution](http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/hardware.php3) I’ll most likely be using and see if they have any suggestions!:smack: Don’t know why I didn’t think of that before. Thanks anyway, it looks like there’s lots of “maybe’s” and a few “definites” out there. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-compatible-modem-recommendations/183395/6 "2003-06-23T07:46:51Z")
Whatever you do, don’t choose the builtin winmodem in the Del Latitude LS. It’s my linux laptop and what a disaster it was trying to get the modem working. Wasted perhaps 20 hours before giving up in frustration. Love the rest of the laptop with Linux, but dang that was a painful ordeal. By the way, there are many winmodems you **can** make work; there are several sites dedicated to it, starting at [http://www.linmodems.org/](http://www.linmodems.org/) Oh wait, I’ve added zero value to your thread. sorry about that. Just saw the title and had a pain flashback. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/linux-compatible-modem-recommendations/183395/7 "2003-06-23T11:00:48Z")
External USR V92 works quite well, really. Expensive at $100, but worth it, one of the few modems out there that actually _is_ Hayes compatable… which matters when my antique programs try to run on it.